Egging Was No Laughing Matter

Hartford Police Chief Bruce Marquis prefers to move on rather than investigate the ugly incident in which vandals -- probably dissident police officers -- threw eggs at his parked car.

Mr. Marquis' apparent willingness to forgive the malicious pranksters speaks admirably of his character. But there's such a thing as being too kind. Can the chief and city leaders afford to move on without attempting to find and punish the perpetrators of this gratuitous insult?

The answer is no. An effort should be made to root out these thugs.

Smashing eggs on Mr. Marquis' official car on his first day on the job is no minor matter. It is symptomatic of the sickness infecting the Hartford Police Department. It is evidence of the caveman behavior that has separated the force from the community it serves.

By challenging the new chief in such a cowardly way, the offenders are saying to him, ``We don't want to change. We'll resist your reforms.'' That's why they must be exposed.

City hall officials -- from Mayor Michael P. Peters to the city council to City Manager Saundra Kee Borges and Deputy City Manager James Wright, who oversees the police -- should demand an investigation.

For too long, the city's elected leaders and professional administrators have acquiesced in the face of bad behavior. It takes an earthquake to move them. That should be the case no more. City hall should be incensed at the defiant attitude that the broken eggs represent. A ``so what'' attitude on the part of the mayor and council would be business as usual.

Some police officers cleaned Mr. Marquis' car and welcomed him to Hartford. They probably represent the thinking of the department's majority.

There's something else that civic-minded, proud professionals wearing a badge can do: If they know who egged the chief's car, they should expose the culprits. Good cops have nothing to gain and much to lose from covering up for bad ones.